Sharing the New Year

New Year’s Eve is quite a spectacle.  You are going to a big party or you are opting to lay low at home or with a few friends to celebrate the coming of the new year. 

For the past 33 New Years Eves, I have come to accept the inevitable fact that donning on a party hat and blowing horns is a way of life on December 31st. 

I should know. 

I’m not a person to self-disclose a lot of things.  With that said, New Years Day will be my 35th New Year’s Day.  Saturday is my birthday.  It’s also Betsy Ross’, Paul Newman’s, Paul Revere’s, J. Edgar Hoover’s, J.D. Salinger’s, and Glen “Big Baby” Davis’ birthday.  Elite company, I know. 

But I think about everyone who has a birthday on a holiday, like a great friend of mine Carlos Garza (Christmas Eve), and wondered “how much do the holidays draw attention away from a person’s birthday on that day?” 

It’s a good question.  How do you celebrate your birthday on a holiday when everyone else is celebrating the holiday itself?  If it was any other day on the calendar, that day is reserved all to yourself. 

Tonight, I’m going to try to not think about it much.  What I do know is that I’ll be with some friends, my Mom, my sister and her family, and my grandmother will call me within a 10 minute span between 11:50 and midnight to wish me a happy birthday.  Everyone else will be sending their well-wishes via social media (Facebook and Twitter directly). 

And I know where I’ll be at tomorrow.  As a birthday tradition, I’ll be parked in front of the television watching the Rose Bowl, with a small piece of cake and ice cream in my hands.   I’ve been doing that since 1986.  It’s hard to believe that I’ve been doing this for 25 years. 

So, as I close this post before we flip the calendar, have a nice time this evening, regardless if you are celebrating it or not. 

It’s been an interesting year.

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